A Bold Hyena Tries to Steal a Cheetah’s Kill and Pushes a Little Too Far

Hyenas are renowned scavengers and predators. Especially bold hyenas often wait for lions, cheetahs, or other creatures to kill their prey, and then frighten them off in groups to steal the kill. Sometimes, the creature does not want to give up its hard-earned meal so easily, though.

Watch the Video Footage Below!

Although hyenas have an immensely powerful bite force and a reasonable balance of size and speed, they’re far from the most powerful animals. In other words, hyenas have to be careful when they try to steal from other animals. Hyenas may be on somewhat equal footing with cheetahs, but unless they vastly outnumber lions, the so-called king of the jungle will easily kill them.

In this video, a rather bold hyena comes sniffing around two cheetahs lying in the grass. The video doesn’t appear to show a meal, but the two cheetahs could be concealing their food. The first cheetah gets up off the ground and looks at the hyena.

The hyena decides that it is best to leave that one alone and continues on its way. Its eyes widen as it realizes a second cheetah is waiting in the grass. That cheetah is not keen on seeing the hyena scoping out a potential meal. The hyena recognizes that this is a losing situation. Not only is it outnumbered, but there is probably no food to try to steal.

The hyena continues to move away from the cheetah until it is completely offscreen. Yet, it turns back and looks between the two cheetahs to make sure they aren’t hiding a meal. The hyena would hate to miss out on an opportunity.

Clearly, the encroacher has overstayed its welcome as a second cheetah gets up and snarls at the bold hyena. The second cheetah has had enough of the hyena and decides to chase it off by quickly charging after the hyena and then turning back to lie down with the other one.

Cheetahs and spotted hyenas are similar in size. The cheetahs outmatched the hyena in this case. We don’t see what happened to the hyena, but it left those two cheetahs alone. If the hyena had continued to press its luck, it may have ended up becoming dinner for the cheetahs.

Typically, cheetahs will eat animals like impala, birds, antelope, and other mammals. They’re known for dragging the corpses of their prey into trees where they can eat in relative peace. After all, larger predators like lions and crocodiles aren’t exactly known for climbing trees.

Although the hyena left the two cheetahs in peace, the chances are low that it went too far away. Hyenas try to position themselves close to apex predators in hopes of an easy meal. And so, the struggle for survival continues.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/johan63